2010 Lakes Lampshades Fabric Workshops

08/14/2011

Keep your summer going and head out to Nantucket Island for my 2 day workshop. It's not too late to reserve a spot with the Nantucket Historical Association's 1800 House Craft Workshops. Thursday and Friday, Sept. 8 and 9, 2011.

We will be doing 2 shades. First day a hard back fabric shade with fabric. And day 2 we will do a vintage Nantucket Postcard Shade. (or Boston) I did a fun workshop last summer with the 1800 House. We had a big group of 10 students, but their workroom was perfect for a large group. Last year we did it all in one day; this year we are splitting the long day up with 2 morning sessions.

10/16/2010

Running a little business is a little like a delicately balanced stack of lampshade frames. Phew, I think I made it past the crazy spring, summer and fall. It has been wicked busy since the publication of my Lampshade Lady Book. I've had a few events the past months, a few workshops and lots of custom work as well as keeping ahead of wholesale orders. Yes, it truly is a balancing act. Blogging, Twitter, etc have mostly gone by the wayside, but now I've got a chance to catch my breath and get a 2nd wind.

All I've learned in a year....where do I start. Originally I thought it would be interesting to do a book on running a little business like mine instead of a how-to book, but those in the know thought otherwise. To think of all the hard knock lessons I have learned. I've heard from many of you wondering if you could really make a living at making lampshades. Yes you can, but gosh it's taken me 20 years to draw a paycheck and at certain times of the year that is debatable, BUT, I'm the boss. Inventory control, CEO, Head Shopper for the best vintage fabrics, head ebay shopper for lamps that need alot of love, head gardener, trash girl, shipping girl,president of pr and marketing, accounts payable to name a few of the day to day skills learned over time, usually doing them wrong the first time. Running my own business is hugely rewarding and I thank the thankyou gods everyday that I was lucky enough to stumble into my shop and start my little niche.

I usually say that I can teach you to make a lampshade in a day, but the rest takes years to figure out. But, heck- it would be no fun if you knew how to do everything. One student emailed that she hadn't sold any lampshades yet. Humm, so Yupp, that's pretty discouraging but not the end of the world. It is sort of good you don't sell out the first time... or maybe that would be good???? I didn't sell any shades at my first outting. And only a handful the next. As a matter of fact, I only sold a handful at my last outting. But, what did I learn? I remembered how much I loved my shop and that it is so much easier selling shades here on School ST than off at a show without electricity in windy weather, but it was great advertising and will bring old customers back to my shop this fall/winter. Skier Girl. Sold. Love this shade. So glad my friend got this one. Thanks Maxine.

More lessons for me.... I just had a wonderful 2 day workshop. A few glitches I think I have learned. I enjoy teaching but at times students sign up and change their minds..... or their schedules change....or health issues which is understandable and then the weather even in Oct. can be an issue. I will have to be stricter in the future because this last one almost was my last. I was lucky there was so much interest, but my workspace is very small and can only accommodate 7-8 students with a squeeze.

deep breath, I will post a workshop schedule for 2011 in the next few days.

My best advise is if you want to start a business. Get busy and Do it! A fellow craftsperson in my town has said to me many times how much she looks up to me and blah, blah, blah, and talks and talks and talks. Just dig in, get started and learn along the way. I know she'll have a great business, because she's super talented. It takes time to get CONFIDENCE AND BE BRAVE.

The only way I finished my book was to not look too far ahead, ask questions when your stuck, do it, figure it out and work hard. Stay positive. If you only knew how many negative comments I deleted and never sent to the book folks. In the beginning of my book progress I got an email from my then editor if I could have my manuscript done by June 30th (it had been due Sept 30th.....sh....t! xoxoxoxok what was she thinkingxixixik! delete, delete and I said let me see, sure okay, we can do it!) only to wait for the next crazy email, Judy, do you think you could have the how-to photos done by then, too? (also, not due till Sept 30th) sure, let me check. You can only imagine what my thoughts were. HOW the HELL will we do that?? so I email off, LET me Check with the photographer. And I return the email, Sure, I think we can make it happen. Lastly, one me querry from her, Can you also get the beauty shots done sooner, too. The last straw. Let me see. She got them 2 months sooner than originally requested. Summer was nonexistent that summer.

07/21/2010

I arrived here in Nantucket on Sunday. Hot, hot, hot... all connections were great. I flew out of Rutland, VT. and headed to Boston and then out to the island. I taught a full day lampshade workshop on Tuesday at The 1800 House on Mill St. The 1800 House is a wonderful craft school affiliated with The Nantucket Historical Association. I had a full house of students willing and ready to dig in and learn a new useful skill. I planned a full day of work. We started the day making a Square Bell Shade. I brought lots of fabric with me and The 1800 House had lots of treasures, too. After lunch I taught the group to make a small empire shade. Low and behold, everyone thought the empire shade was harder to make than a square shade!!! Surprise for me. I figured it would have been the other way around... Maybe everyone was cross eyed by the end of the day.

Here's to prove I made it to the beach for a little bit. Why did I bring the heaviest book on the shelf. I am trying to make my way into A.S.Byatt's book, A Children's Book. I'm getting the idea a Kindle might just be a good idea if I traveled more. There's nothing like getting my summer reads sandy and a tad wet.

Lots of fun out to dinner with Connie and Polly at Oran Mor. A great find, food was to die for. Pretty food that tastes great. Connie and Polly were also 1800 House instructors; fun to compare notes on our classes and small businesses. Very talented and fun ladies. This seemed like a place not to miss dessert. Check it out below!

Right now I'm sitting at Starbucks at Logan Airport. Just missed my flight from Nantucket by a couple of minutes. We were held at Nantucket due to heavy fog... thought maybe I'd make my Vermont connection, but missed it by seconds. My plane had just started rolling and we were unloading... darn, they tried to call it back with no luck. The planes are little 9 seaters..... I almost could have run out and grabbed it. Too bad. Forced blogging at Starbucks. Not too bad, friendly people and a big decaf. On standby for the 3:40 flight.... guess I may have to flip my seat to the pizza/beer place over my shoulder for the afternoon and wait for the 6 something flight.

Holly Hocks at my house in Pawlet.
It's been a fantastic raspberry season at my house. I am the head berry picker. When we bought our house 20 years ago we had inherited a patch of raspberries from our neighbor Mike. Mike always had the most amazing berries. Over the years our patch has grown and is almost as awesome as Mikes. Mikes berry bushes are found all over town. On good years when the fall frost comes late we'll get a big batch of fall berries, too. It's my job to squirrel some of the berries away into the freezer for winter. I've sort of got the system down. I like to pick heavy and put the really ripe ones into the freezer and onto a sheet tray and then into baggies. I'll keep the ones that are almost ripe out on the counter to ripen over night and they'll be perfect for breakfast.

Here's one last picture from my long and scattered blog post, the best of random photos and hanging at Logan Airport.

I'm showing off my Clematis bush on the front of my house. Super pretty this year.

Judy's cute barn door at home.

Last but not least, another Hollyhocks shot at my shop. Summer is going too fast. We need to savor these steamy days of summer before the raspberries and hollyhocks fad by.

03/29/2010

I recently purchased a nice grouping of French Cottons. Here's a nice early polished cotton. Often working with with vintage fabrics I find small pieces of fabric. In this case there was just enough for these 2 shades. It can be like a jigsaw puzzle to fit all styrene pieces onto the remnant of fabric. I tried to squeak one more smaller shade, too.... no luck.

I am ironing the fabric before it is cut out. (this is not an advertisement for Rowenta.... all my Rowenta irons are leaking... but hate to go get a new one.) My friend says her favorite is an old one she found at a tag sale.

Styrene is laminated to the back of the fabric. The paper backing is peeled off of the styrene. As my students know, getting the paper off can be one of the hardest parts! The panels are then cut out.

Skipping ahead a few steps... here is the pair of shades with the self-trims added to the sides.

Making self-trims. I've used a contrasting floral fabric, definitely newer vintage fabric but best of the stack. I tried lots of different options and this seemed to work the best. It is French too, but probably 1950's. The cloth trim or bias trim backer is set onto the back of fabric and cut out.

Here is a close up of the technique. Quick glue onto one side and folded onto tape. The the other side.

The best part is adding the finishing trim. Run glue onto self-trim a few inches at a time and set onto shade.

NOTE: Shop is closed till April 5th. Gone Spring Skiing.... but it is pouring rain out today. Good day to catch up on this belated blog post and start my new book by the fire. Crossing fingers sun comes out by Wednesday for some corn snow and sunshine.

Keep an eye out for the April issue of World of Interiors and April's Crafter News, Random House's New Craft Blog. I've loved hearing from so many of you from The May issue of Romantic Home. Gosh, It all happens at once but not complaining. Shall we say, on a roll.

03/22/2010

Lake's Lampshades and The Lampshade Lady's Guide to Lighting up Your Life featured in Romantic Homes, May 2010 issue.How exciting to have my shop featured in the May issue of Romantic Homes. It's great timing with spring arriving and we are all thinking about sprucing up our homes or at least I am. I just bought an arm load of paint to spruce up my living room, tulips to bring spring closer and I'm itching to get out and search for vintage fabrics to inspire my lampshade creativity.

The loyal followers of this magazine are already starting to call my shop and email. I love hearing from you and love the exposure it is bringing my new Lampshade Lady book. It's a tricky time for book sellers and all these little boosts are super helpful.

Go buy a May issue of Romantic Homes and get psyched to spruce up for spring!

01/25/2010

Today's project. Might as well start the week with a fun project. This is a very sweet vintage kitty applique tablecloth. The image fits well into this scallop clip frame (7" high x 10" across the bottom).

This is pretty miserable, whatever blogger has done...used to be so easy. Probably it is obviously easy, just clueless.Okay, so I was able to load the next picture in...again.... Here is the front panel of the kitty.

I am tracing around the outside of the lampshade frame with a thin marker. I will cut it out next. Fabric is laminated to styrene. My assistant, Fini is inspecting my progress. He likes to be as close as possible.... I am thinking about trims. I've used the green polka dots on the vertical self-trims. They are from a vintage apron. I thought they would add some interest as there was only one applique to use. I learned today that I like the polka dot pattern off center, ie dots not going straight down the center strip.

Also using these other finds. The crochet edging is something I stowed away for a rainy day. yup! That's today, rainy, rainy. The other trim is an embroidery insert strip that I found at the flea market; it's been super handy for projects. Hope I find more someday.

Close up of trims.

Here it's finished. Trims have been added. Might be cute for a little girls room.

I hope to have the new blogger format figured out.... I'm sure it is improved, but ...... giving me more gray hairs.

Tomorrow I am off to jury duty..... and will be wishing I was back in my shop. There is still spots for my Saturday workshop. Feel free to leave any messages for me about the workshop on the shop answering machine. I'll be checking in. No idea how many days this jury duty will be.... wish me luck. sold

These are single workshops not a series. Everyone leaves with a finished lampshade and lots of new lighting info and skills to make fabric hardback lampshades.

COST: $150 for all materials except fabric. Students will bring the fabric of their choice, about 1/2 yd. I encourage you to search through family linen closest or attic to find vintage finds or hit the antique shops. Vintage fabric works easier than new fabric. Must be cotton or linen fiber content.

Students can buy materials after class for a few shades. It's a good idea to do a couple shades soon after our workshop.

Reservations are a must due to small workspace and preparations on my end. Please try to plan ahead. Workshops are lots of fun. Some students come and make one shade and other come to start a business or make all new lampshades for their home. A great resource for interior designers. There is always lots to learn in the lighting world. I am still learning something new everyday and have been making shades for over 20 years!